Huge thank you to Compass for inspiring me to write this post! Compass is a home search company that works mainly in Washington D.C. and New York City that helps pair people with neighborhoods and agents that best fit what they are looking for. They are running a series called Starter Stories so it inspired me to write this little gem.
It was 2004 and my husband and I had been searching for “the perfect” house for a year! And then one evening we met up with our extremely patient realtor and toured the house that would become the location and setting for our happily ever after. There was something familiar, comforting, something that said welcome home. It reminded me of the house I used to draw in pictures when I was a child. The only thing missing was the white picket fence.
The house had almost all my ‘must haves’ …the kitchen wasn’t the best but we would change that…and most importantly the location was unbeatable! It was close to interstates, church, the mall (hehe), school, we could walk to two bowling alleys, health food store, bars, park, etc. It was perfect!!
We took possession and within 9 months we pulled up carpeting, finished the hardwood floors, pulled off wallpaper, painted, carpeted, purchased dishwasher, garbage disposal, and had SO MANY more plans, like gutting the kitchen, and then in November 2005 we welcomed our first child. Talk about a transformation!! We left our house for the hospital and 2 days later we officially came HOME with our baby girl. Though the house didn’t structurally change it felt so different having a baby in it.
We enjoyed our little family, 2 adults, baby, cat, & dog but something was missing. We welcomed another addition in 2007, our son. And again the house didn’t change at all but it felt so different walking into our home as a family of 4. I would love to say we did a lot to the house but we were just so busy maintaining what we had already accomplished. We were scrubbing crayon off walls, trying to get scratches out of the hardwood, play-doh out of the carpeting, there was over a 1000 spills, and a couple crashes (those little boys, I tell ya, ha-ha! Our son earned the nickname Office Max after receiving staples & glue due to goofing off on the stairs & trying to fly). And just when we started to calm the chaos and contemplated gutting the kitchen (we even had a new kitchen layout printed and in our hands!) we found out we were expecting again!!
And I tell you what; this time was the most magical homecoming! I was home with the new baby and my husband went to get our older two kiddos from my parents. We decided we wanted to be surprised and didn’t find out the sex of the baby when I was pregnant. And since I was in and out of the hospital, (within 25 hours) the kiddos didn’t come up to see their new sibling, so they were going to be surprised big time! I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was sitting on the steps with the baby, 3rd step from the living room floor to be exact. My husband opened the front door, kiddos walked in, and rushed over to me. Each eager to see if they had a sister or a brother! And then I pulled back the blanket to reveal the pink outfit, they had a baby sister!!
Four years later and we still haven’t gutted the kitchen, truth be told we really haven’t touched the kitchen. Minus our new puppy ripping up the floor. Haha! We did remove the pantry door a while back and am pleased with the outcome.
So maybe I don’t have granite countertops or glass tile backsplash but I do have the 3rd step, and strangely that means more to me. You see years from now when we no longer live here the kitchen will be gutted; perhaps a half dozen times but that 3rd step, that step isn’t going anywhere! And besides I was much busier working on this masterpiece….this is my favorite part of my kitchen!
